Ada Bible Churchhttps://www.adabible.org
The mission of Ada Bible Church is to lead people into a relationship with God and His church that transforms them to Christ-likeness.Sun, 02 Aug 2015 15:22:31 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3Repurposing Our Brokenesshttps://www.adabible.org/2015/04/22/repurposing-our-brokeness/
https://www.adabible.org/2015/04/22/repurposing-our-brokeness/#commentsWed, 22 Apr 2015 14:10:37 +0000https://www.adabible.org/?p=32567“I shouldn’t be alive, in fact, my last memory from the accident is that I didn’t make it out.” These are the words Laura would share with anyone who asked about her story. After a life-altering incident in high school, Laura struggled with depression, disordered eating, and several physical hurdles. This was only compounded in college, when while driving to Chicago […]

“I shouldn’t be alive, in fact, my last memory from the accident is that I didn’t make it out.”

These are the words Laura would share with anyone who asked about her story. After a life-altering incident in high school, Laura struggled with depression, disordered eating, and several physical hurdles. This was only compounded in college, when while driving to Chicago to visit family she and three friends were in a near-death car accident. With Laura at the wheel, the vehicle hydroplaned and landed upside down in a ditch filled with water. There was seemingly no escape. After much struggle, Laura lost consciousness and upon awakening outside of the car realized all of her passengers had miraculously survived. They escaped through the rear window and when Laura’s now husband, James, realized she was still inside he dove back in and pulled her lifeless body to safety. The damage done to her physically, mentally and emotionally through this traumatic experience was immense.

Flash forward six years and Laura is still fighting for healing in different areas of her life, but through her involvement in the Women’s Ministry of Ada Bible Church her perspective of how God could use her brokenness has drastically changed.

“I’ve realized that I thought God would heal me and then use me, but what He’s really done this year is expose my need for His healing and then give me the opportunity to get in the mess alongside those He has asked me to serve,”
Laura shared.

Despite being in the midst of overcoming herself, Laura is serving as a Women in the Word Leader teaching a “Strengthening Your Faith” course to those just learning about who God is and what it means to walk through life as a follower of Christ. Through this journey she has met many young women who are struggling to find healing from their own brokenness.

Laura recently spent time discussing the needs of those she is serving and how the church could meet those needs. She realized how grateful she was that she too was receiving assistance and care from her church family; and is only able to offer those same gifts to those she is serving because of her experience.

“I only have an understanding of the things we were discussing because I’m currently on the receiving end of all the resources we explored,” Laura explained.

Laura’s story proves that God can use us in our wealth and in our poverty, in our abundance and in our brokenness, in our pain and in our healing. She is a shining example of this beautiful, life-giving truth.

Do you have a similar story that you could share? If so, visit adabible.org/stories/ to submit your story.

]]>https://www.adabible.org/2015/04/22/repurposing-our-brokeness/feed/0Right Where I’m Athttps://www.adabible.org/2015/03/15/right-where-im-at/
https://www.adabible.org/2015/03/15/right-where-im-at/#commentsSun, 15 Mar 2015 16:00:12 +0000https://www.adabible.org/?p=32426Andy grew up struggling to trust people, which in turn led to a lack of trust in God. Propelled by self-interest, Andy found himself making a series of bad decisions eventually putting him on his knees. Once he submitted and put his trust in God as the ruler of his life, Andy can feel God’s […]

]]>Andy grew up struggling to trust people, which in turn led to a lack of trust in God. Propelled by self-interest, Andy found himself making a series of bad decisions eventually putting him on his knees. Once he submitted and put his trust in God as the ruler of his life, Andy can feel God’s love and the blessings he provides.

If hearing his story evokes the need to speak with someone about your own story, please contact care@adabible.org

]]>https://www.adabible.org/2015/03/15/right-where-im-at/feed/0A Classic Storyhttps://www.adabible.org/2015/03/09/a-classic-story/
https://www.adabible.org/2015/03/09/a-classic-story/#commentsMon, 09 Mar 2015 19:58:23 +0000https://www.adabible.org/?p=32375A Classic Story During week one of the Found series, Pastor Jeff Manion brought to light some hard truths about the condition of our hearts. For one woman, Nancy*, who was visiting Ada Bible Church with her daughter, Pastor Jeff’s message was deeply convicting. She shared with us how she came to recognize that her heart needed to be […]

During week one of the Found series, Pastor Jeff Manion brought to light some hard truths about the condition of our hearts. For one woman, Nancy*, who was visiting Ada Bible Church with her daughter, Pastor Jeff’s message was deeply convicting. She shared with us how she came to recognize that her heart needed to be softened.

*To respect the privacy of those discussed in this story, we have chosen not to reveal their actual names.

Pastor Jeff shared what he called “a classic story” of a husband who hooks up with a younger woman, and in turn leaves his wife and two children to marry her. Pastor Jeff went on to explain, “the ex-wife learns two years later that he and his new [wife]…are attending a church across town. And it gets worse. They are in a small group together. And it gets worse. They’re growing spiritually.”

It was in this moment that Nancy drew a parallel to her own life, as she was witnessing an individual from her home church in a very similar circumstance.

She wrote, “There is a man I know who I’ve seen from a distance at my church for the last year with his new wife. He married his new wife following his office affair. An older daughter of mine witnessed the affair while working for him in her first job and quit as the result of the unhappy work atmosphere.”

She went on to explain that her other daughter was on the swim team of which this man was an Assistant Coach, and witnessed how the affair affected his children first hand.

“I wanted him to ‘pay’,” explained Nancy. “I’ve not wanted to greet him at church and haven’t had to, since our church is very large.”

After returning to her home church the week after hearing Pastor Jeff speak, the very couple she felt convicted about sat down directly in front of her.

“Convicting? Yes.” she wrote. “There was an inner battle in my mind for a few moments, resisting the thought of greeting him warmly. But I was convinced that God had put he and his wife there for a purpose, not randomly. It was time to lay aside the hard heart.”

Nancy explains that after the service she extended her hand to the man and met his wife, and the three spent the following 15 minutes making small talk about their children and their holidays. The following week Nancy received a note from the man, thanking her for being so welcoming. He and his wife had been looking for a new church and he mentioned, “people like you going out of their way to be kind tells us we are in the right place.”

Nancy concluded her story with these words, “I can’t honestly say, I am fully ready to be close to these people but realize that my heart needs softening…Jesus came to the ‘Search and Rescue’ for them. I need saving from a hard heart.”

During this same message, Pastor Jeff shared, “The problem wasn’t that Jesus just came to show compassion for the oppressed, Jesus came to show compassion to the oppressor.” For Nancy, these were words that she needed to hear at that exact moment in her life.

Do you have a similar story that you could share? If so, visit adabible.org/stories/ to submit your story.

]]>https://www.adabible.org/2015/03/09/a-classic-story/feed/0Generosity Changes Liveshttps://www.adabible.org/2015/03/09/franks-story/
https://www.adabible.org/2015/03/09/franks-story/#commentsMon, 09 Mar 2015 16:13:02 +0000https://www.adabible.org/?p=32370Frank was born without a bone in his right leg. Through the generosity of Cure Dominicana and Ada Bible Church, Frank was given his life back. If hearing his story evokes the need to speak with someone about your own story, please contact care@adabible.org

]]>https://www.adabible.org/2015/03/09/franks-story/feed/0You’re Minehttps://www.adabible.org/2015/03/09/coralyns-story/
https://www.adabible.org/2015/03/09/coralyns-story/#commentsMon, 09 Mar 2015 16:09:12 +0000https://www.adabible.org/?p=32366Finding herself at rock bottom, Coralyn was invited to Women In The Word. There she found a community of women who walked alongside her and helped reignite her faith. If hearing her story evokes the need to speak with someone about your own story, please contact care@adabible.org

]]>https://www.adabible.org/2015/03/09/coralyns-story/feed/0God Pursued Mehttps://www.adabible.org/2014/03/09/saras-story/
https://www.adabible.org/2014/03/09/saras-story/#commentsSun, 09 Mar 2014 15:57:13 +0000https://www.adabible.org/?p=32348Sara has endured a lot, battling infertility, losing her husband to cancer, and following God’s call to a life into the unknown. But she holds strong to the belief that God has a plan for her life and she is willing to follow that plan with her whole heart. If hearing her story evokes the need […]

]]>Sara has endured a lot, battling infertility, losing her husband to cancer, and following God’s call to a life into the unknown. But she holds strong to the belief that God has a plan for her life and she is willing to follow that plan with her whole heart.

If hearing her story evokes the need to speak with someone about your own story, please contact care@adabible.org